Covering all the bases with whatever's bouncing around in my head today!

Mother-Daughter Minor League Fun; Offensive Phunk Continues

First, the fun part. On Tuesday, my daughter (who usually claims to not like baseball) coerced me into taking her to the Reading Phillies game, at which the first 2,000 kids received a Webkinz “Littlekinz” dog. I should probably have my head examined – like she really needs another stuffed animal! Unfortunately it doesn’t take much coercion to get me to do anything involving a baseball game. She probably knew this, and used it to her advantage.

So while my husband and son were involved in their own activity, we made the drive to Reading on a beautiful evening for a ballgame. The gates opened an hour prior to gametime, and we arrived within a few minutes of them opening. Seeing quite a few people already gathered at the gates, and the parking lot fuller than usual, my daughter started to panic that she would miss out on her Webkinz.

Her: “Mom, what if I’m not one of the first 2,000 kids?”

Me: “2,000 is a lot of kids. You’ll be fine.”

Her: “But what if I’m not? You don’t want me to be unhappy!”

This is very true. After we parked, she leaped out of the car and started running down the sidewalk to the gate. This from a child who seems to try to avoid running at all costs most of the time. Thank goodness no one got in her way, she may have pushed them over in her haste.

Of course, there were plenty of Webkinz to go around (and still were half an hour later). A happy child and her new favorite stuffed animal:

I informed her that just because she now had what she wanted, didn’t mean we were going to leave the game early. Mom wanted to watch some baseball.

It wasn’t such a good night for the R-Phils. Starter Josh Fogg topped out at 82-83 mph (according to the stadium radar gun), and the visiting Trenton Thunder hitters teed off on him. In 3.2 innings of work, Fogg gave up 4 runs on 8 hits.

Shortstop Freddy Galvis covers second on this steal by Justin Christian:

Upon closer inspection, it can be seen that Galvis has his eyes closed!

I’m pretty sure that this is not considered proper technique.

The R-Phils baserunners were not so successful. Quintin Berry not only is thrown out at second, he loses his helmet in the process:

In the meantime, the members of the R-Phils bullpen appear less-than-riveted by the on-field action:

The bullpen was pressed into action in the top of the fourth, and Fogg’s night was done. He seems to be purposely not looking towards the dugout, as the manager is approaching to remove him from the game:

Or maybe he was simply looking at the scoreboard, wondering what went wrong.

Some excitement was injected into the evening by the nightly vegetable race. Here, Carrot uses a flying finish to edge out Lettuce and Broccoli:

Cauliflower was a non-factor, finishing well behind and out of the picture.

After eight innings, the R-Phils were only down by two runs, 4-2. But then Trenton tacked on two more in the top of the ninth, a pitching change was made, and it was now 10 pm. Since it was, in fact, a school night, we decided to leave. Two more runs were scored after we left, and the final score was 8-2 in Trenton’s favor.

Nonetheless, I think my daughter was actually absorbing a bit of the game as she sat. After a Trenton batter grounded into a double play to end an inning, she turned to me and asked “Did they just get two outs?” So there’s some hope for her yet. :-)

As for the big Phillies, they were in the process of beating the Marlins, 10-8. Was the offensive funk getting turned around?

Apparently not, as last night they gave Doc absolutely no run support, wasting a fine performance in which Halladay gave up one run in eight innings. The Phils lost to the Marlins, 2-0, and now head to Boston for interleague games.

This is never good anyway, but especially not when it seems like the Phils’ bats have been replaced by sticks of Swiss cheese. Particularly appalling is Jayson Werth(less), who struck out twice last night, making 19(!) in his last 41 at-bats.

UPDATE: The misery continues. The first game in Boston last night resulted in a 12-2 loss. At this rate, it’s gonna be a long summer….

It’s time for some drastic action.

Note to Phillies: Don’t make me come into the clubhouse and slap you upside the head with your own sweaty jockstraps!

12 Comments

Yep! that seems fair… mum and daughter go to the baseball game while dad and son go to a pageant (at the local bar/strip club).. great idea that….although I think sports is probably going to be the least of your worries when your daughter gets older…

My first comment was gobbled up by the ether gremlins. Hmmm
…Like I was saying ~ EEeeeWWww! I’d get motivated just so I wouldn’t get slapped by you and “that”. Gotta admit to you…there is something wonderfully magical about a Mom/Daughter Baseball night at the game while the boyz are busy elsewhere. I think that’s great!
Did you and your Pop/Mom share a lot of baseball time together?
mikehttp://thebrooklyntrolleyblogger.mlblogs.com

I couldn’t stop laughing at your pics. The one of the bullpen was so funny. They certainly looked riveted!! Mother-daughter baseball is terrific as well as mother-son baseball which I have once in a while with my son. Those are my favorite times.http://catlovesthedodgers.mlblogs.com

Peter – OK, my son is 12, a little young for a strip club ;-). He had his own baseball practice that night.
Mike – Unfortunately, I did not get to see much baseball as a kid, except on TV. We didn’t live close enough to any teams to go, and my mom wasn’t (and still isn’t) much of a fan. As she says, “You take after your father.”
Jane – I can only hope. A lot of baseball “purists” are not fans of mascots, but if it gets kids to come to the ballpark, then I think it’s a good thing.
Cat – Once it gets a little too dark for good action photos, I start looking around for other photo ops. The bullpen is always good, because I don’t think they think anyone’s watching them. I’m so glad my kids are finally getting to the point where they actually watch (some of) the game.

Beautiful picture of your daughter Sue. Sorry about the second game today. Ouch! I hope we don’t do the same tonight. That Green monster is just swallowing Phillies. I hope the same does not happen to us when my bums are there. We did not do any better last night against the Angels.
Emmahttp://crzblue.mlblogs.com

Great pictures!! Glad to hear that you were able to spend a quality time with your daughter. I give her a thumbs up for being able to get the stuffed animal :) I would be the one dragging my mom to the ballpark. LOLhttp://hyunyoung.mlblogs.com

Minor League games are the best, especially for the kids. There is always something going on, and the players are usaully a lot friendlier and give autographs for the kids. Great pics.
–Mike
‘Minoring In Baseball’http://burrilltalksbaseball.mlblogs.com

Ah, the Reading Phils. The place where my favorite player of all time, Ryne Sandberg, played for a brief time. Glad to see that your daughter got her toy at the game. I have to say, I was/am just like her. I’ll always ask my wife before we leave for the Rays game, “What if we aren’t one of the first 10,000 fans? We have to get there early!” Gotta get the toys.

Guess that is one way to get kids to look differently about their veggies. Still think that the cheese stands alone…near the concession stand.
Seriously, sounds like a great mother and daughter time out at the ballpark. Even if there was an ulterior motive involved ( a stuffed animal), it was still a time both traveling and enjoying the game for you both to bond closer.
And that is always a good thing.

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